Good Fats Vers Bad Fats

I'm not sure if that is true for everyone, I know its not in my case. I tried Atkin a few years ago and was worried about it raising my cholesterol so I have it tested before I started and then a couple months into the diet. My overall cholesterol dropped and the ratio between good and bad improved even though I was eating more fat than I ever had and this included a lot of aninmal fats as well as olive oil. I also lost weight but couldn't keep it up as I missed the carbs to much.

lineruds, you are dead wrong. Animal fats are what we should be eating... vegetable-based oils are the ones that are killing "modern humans". It's all propaganda spread by Big Pharma, Big Agri and Big Government... all in bed together. OP, go watch "Fat Head" (on YouTube) and also read this entire website (http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/the-oiling-of-america). You will be shocked to learn that we are being fed LIES... MARGARINE is plastic. Eat what humans have been eating for thousands of years... butter, animal fats, dairy!

lineruds, you are dead wrong. Animal fats are what we should be eating... vegetable-based oils are the ones that are killing "modern humans". It's all propaganda spread by Big Pharma, Big Agri and Big Government... all in bed together. OP, go watch "Fat Head" (on YouTube) and also read this entire website (http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/the-oiling-of-america). You will be shocked to learn that we are being fed LIES... MARGARINE is plastic. Eat what humans have been eating for thousands of years... butter, animal fats, dairy!

If you read the next post, you'll see that lineruds is saying to get your plant-based fats from the source (ie NOT margarine or processed plant oils). I believe that both sides agree with this- coconut oil, avocado, nuts, etc.

Animal fats, including dairy, are bad fats. They're saturated, they raise your cholesterol, and they're loaded with calories without beneficial nutrients. If you must have cheese, limit it, I've learned that I'm better off without it. Plant fats are good fats, nuts, seeds, olives, avocados... they're unsaturated, therefore they lower your LDL's (the bad cholesterol) and they provide more energy and nutrients for the amount of calories they contain. However, if you're trying to lose weight, you should limit the fat in your diet altogether because you're body will use it's stored fat when it needs it.

wow..

The above is pretty much totally incorrect and backward. very old school and non informed on fats and metabolism. you would have done much better to say nothing than to promote such misinformation. eating cholesterol does not raise cholesterol the same way eating fat does not make you fat.

plant fats conversely for the MOST part are not good fats. some yes, coconut, avocado, and olive oil are good. fats from nuts seeds, corn, soy, saff and sunflower and especially canola are BAD for you!!!

Their is a wealth of "correct" information on fats if you take the time to find it and actually read it.insulin and sugar make you fat..NOT fat!!sugar comes from carbohydrates,

your body will NOT burn fat if you cut it out..it will first burn any carbs and then it will store any leftover carbs as FAT!!

if you eat fat your body converts to using fat as fuel.They are 2 different and distinct metabolic processesyou cannot burn fat when your body is in the carb burning mode which it stays in if you keep eating carbs, grains, veggies, fruit . these MUST be low for the body to burn fat as fuel.

Wheat Free: Forever Fat Burner.

Carbs=glucose=insulin=fat Escape from the fat free farce and get healthy for real!

if you eat fat your body converts to using fat as fuel.They are 2 different and distinct metabolic processesyou cannot burn fat when your body is in the carb burning mode which it stays in if you keep eating carbs, grains, veggies, fruit . these MUST be low for the body to burn fat as fuel.

The only threshold below which carbohydrate consumption must be kept in order to reduce body mass is total daily energy expenditure.

Jo60, are you really saying that fruits and veggies are bad for you and can't allow for weight loss??

Lineruds never said to eat processed plant oils as you suggested, they said to eat whole foods that contain good oils (avocados, nuts, etc). I'm shocked that the impression of most of the posters on this forum believe that there are lobbyists working for the vegetable and fruit industries and not massive amounts of money being put into the meat and dairy industries to keep these items a high priority in the common "food pyramid".

No one is saying that processed corn and soy products are the answer....but limiting dairy and animal fats can be very beneficial to your health and incorporating green leafy veggies is one of the best things you can do for your health.

Just my two cents, but let's not say that meat and dairy are necessarily the best things to eat to accomplish great health.

Food for thought....Also, it's interesting to think that humans are the ONLY animal that drinks another animal's milk. Do people really think its necessary for human health? Also, think about the largest animals on earth (elephants, whales, etc) they all keep high muscle masses, regulate their own weights naturally, and eat TONS of food....but it's all fruits and veggies...

Goals:215lbs (BMI 33.7) (Reached 4.3.12)200lbs (BMI 31.3) (Reached 5.14.12)190lbs (BMI 29.8- No longer clinically OBESE!) (Reached 7.10.12)180lbs (Weight I was 8 years ago)165lbs (Weight I was in high school)155lbs (BMI 24.3-FINALLY in the NORMAL weight category and a weight I never EVER remember being at)

Cheese and milk are loaded with saturated fat which is bad, unless you buy the fat free stuff like me. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the only cooking oil that is a good fat. Peanut butter is a source of good fat. Nuts of all types are good sources of good fats. Avacados are a source of good fat.Sunflower seeds are a source of good fats, as well as pther seeds. That is all the GOOD fats I can think of right now. Keep in mind that even though a fat may be good for you in moderation, it still sticks to your body like regular fats, it just wont clog your arteries.

But they have also done some recent studies that have shown those who eat dairy products lose more weight than those who don't, due to some fat blocking (enzymes? I can't remember what) items in them! Also, I had cut dairy out because it was high in calories and ended up giving myself a calcium deficiency. (My nails were literally shredding ) So, remember balance!

Saturated fat is not bad for you, this is old school. There is a lot of research done in the recent years that show that studies done in the middle of the century were flawed. Coconut oil, milk fat and animal fat (on condition that the animals are not fed garbage diet themselves) are good for you. Vegetable oils should be limited on the other hand. Olive oil is one of the few that are good for you. Hemp oil also contains good ratio of omegas, but is not very stable either. Both are better on salads than heated. Fish or krill oil as a supplement are also good for you as they allow you to shift the ratio of omegas in your diet. As for the nut/avocado oils, eat them as part of whole food, not as expressed oil.

~~~~~~~~~~The first thing you lose on a diet is your sense of humor. ~ Author UnknownIt doesn’t matter what diet you follow… What matters is what makes you follow your diet. ~ Tom Venuto

I'm not sure if that is true for everyone, I know its not in my case. I tried Atkin a few years ago and was worried about it raising my cholesterol so I have it tested before I started and then a couple months into the diet. My overall cholesterol dropped and the ratio between good and bad improved even though I was eating more fat than I ever had and this included a lot of aninmal fats as well as olive oil. I also lost weight but couldn't keep it up as I missed the carbs to much.

This is such a complicated discussion! But on to fatoldlady's note about the ratio improving and overall cholesterol dropping after reducing carbs:

Read some of Gary Taubes' excellent work. If you want the shorter easier book, read Why We Get Fat. If you want the longer, more detailed scientific explanation, read Good Calories, Bad Calories. He goes into great depth about all sorts of studies that have been done around the world and looks at the effect of carbohydrates and insulin on the body. His work is well respected and meticulously researched.

This is such a complicated discussion! But on to fatoldlady's note about the ratio improving and overall cholesterol dropping after reducing carbs:

Read some of Gary Taubes' excellent work. If you want the shorter easier book, read Why We Get Fat. If you want the longer, more detailed scientific explanation, read Good Calories, Bad Calories. He goes into great depth about all sorts of studies that have been done around the world and looks at the effect of carbohydrates and insulin on the body. His work is well respected and meticulously researched.

This is such a complicated discussion! But on to fatoldlady's note about the ratio improving and overall cholesterol dropping after reducing carbs:

Read some of Gary Taubes' excellent work. If you want the shorter easier book, read Why We Get Fat. If you want the longer, more detailed scientific explanation, read Good Calories, Bad Calories. He goes into great depth about all sorts of studies that have been done around the world and looks at the effect of carbohydrates and insulin on the body. His work is well respected and meticulously researched.

Well, in the context of the post to which I responded, I'm referring mostly to his insulin hypothesis, that carbohydrate is uniquely lipogenic because of its effect on insulin. But I also don't know if he is still advancing that theory.

There are also a number of constituent claims that he makes in support of that larger hypothesis that are pretty obviously false, like his cursory reliance on self-reported food intake to conclude that the obese do not consume more calories than the lean. As I understand it (and of course I don't have his book in front me to quote from), that's one of the fundamental assumptions on which his insulin hypothesis is based, and it's false. We know that self-reporting is not accurate, and that under controlled conditions such as a metabolic ward, there isn't a single instance where body mass has been shown to increase in a hypocaloric state - regardless of how much carbohydrate (or protein, or saturated fat, etc) is in the diet.

Since my goal isn't to start yet another pointless low-carb/high-carb debate, let me put this in context - this isn't about low-CHO dieting. Low-carb or ketogenic dieting are not just effective strategies for many people, they may in fact be advantageous for some groups, such as those with insulin resistance. I just think that Taubes cherry-picks and mischaracterizes or misinterprets research data to justify conclusions that he's already reached. Which of course, is backwards.

I think what the schooled thought is coming to is that diet and weight loss is becoming an individual process. What works for some people doesn't work for others. The eating according to your blood type tries to address this. On Atkins (twice) I gained 6 lbs. each time and evenually lost my gallbladder. I just can't handle the fat. I also do well with a milk-free, gluten-free diet. I feel better and I'm losing weight. I do well at 30% fat to RDI. But that's me. I've increased my fruits and vegetables but have trouble with raw vegetables which according to "you are what you eat" I may have trouble with my pancreas. But that's just me. What's great about FS is we have the tools to make adjustments to find what works for our individual needs.